OSP ends Parliament bribery probe over lack of cooperation by NPP MPs

The Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) has brought to an end its investigations into an alleged bribery scandal in Parliament involving a supposed wealthy businessman in Ghana.

According to the OSP, it was compelled to bring the probe to an end because the main accuser in the case, the Member of Parliament for Asante-Akim-North, Andy Appiah Kubi has not been cooperative.

It added that, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu who also made a similar claim “denied direct knowledge of the matter” during the probe.

The OSP in its report dated December 28, 2023, said “Mr. Appiah-Kubi’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation and his refusal to disclose the identity of the suspect are most regrettable. It is quite perplexing for a Member of Parliament to level accusations of attempted bribery on a person (whether certain or uncertain) in a most spectacular and public manner on a network of a major media house and then stage a bizarre volte-face by refusing to cooperate with the investigation and refusing to disclose and/or confirm the identity of the suspect.”

The OSP started its investigations in 2023 over allegations that a wealthy businessman tried inducing Members of Parliament on the Majority side to back down on their demands for the dismissal of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

Andy Appiah Kubi and over 50 New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs in 2022 called for the removal of the Finance Minister.

The MPs later softened their stance after meeting President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on the matter.

They kowtowed to the President’s pleas to have the Minister stay in office to seal Ghana’s bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The OSP in its report explained that, although it is convinced that a “certain well-known wealthy Ghanaian businessman visited Parliament House circa 1 October 2022 and requested a meeting with a section of NPP Members of Parliament and that the businessman in question had attempted to offer them money to influence their demand for the resignation or removal of Mr. Ofori-Atta, and that Mr. [Name withheld by the OSP] is the businessman in question – the rehearsed and choreographed refusal to cooperate and continued refusal to cooperate by the accuser and vital key, Mr. Appiah-Kubi, produced the very unhappy result that there is not enough probative evidence (direct or circumstantial) to sustain the institution of criminal proceedings against the OSP’s identified suspect.”

“On that reckoning, the Special Prosecutor directs the closure of the investigation in respect of allegations that a well-known and wealthy businessman attempted to bribe a section of the majority caucus of Parliament. The Special Prosecutor determines that the institution of criminal proceedings, at this time, against the OSP’s identified suspect would serve no useful purpose. The investigation may be re-opened should the circumstances and further facts so dictate,” the OSP added in its report.